SZYMANOWSKA, M.- Dances for Solo Piano (Complete) (Kostritsa)

7/24/2019 SZYMANOWSKA, M.- Dances for Solo Piano (Complete) (Kostritsa)

1/18

SZYMANOWSKA


2/18

MARIA SZYMANOWSKA (1789-1831)

COMPLETE DANCES FOR SOLO PIANO

ALEXANDER KOSTRITSA, PianoNATSUMI SHIBAGAKI, Piano (7)

Catalogue Number: GP685Recording Dates: 7-8 June 2014

Recording Venue: First Unitarian Church of Cleveland, Ohio, USAPublishers: Breitkopf & Hrtel (1-18, 43-48, 49), Hildegard Publishing Co. (19-42),

PWM (Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne) (50), Hanry (Paris) (51)Producer, Engineer and Editor: Fedor Amosov

Piano: 1915 Hamburg Steinway Model D (Restored 2006)Piano Technician: Jeffrey KrillBooklet Notes: Anthony Short

German translation by Cris PosslacArtist photograph: Fedor AmosovCover Art: Tony Price:Sunday, Place du Capitole

www.tonyprice.org


3/18

18 DANSES 33:40

1 No. 1. Polonaise in C major 03:09

2 No. 2. Polonaise in E minor 02:183 No. 3. Polonaise in A major 03:01

4 No. 4. Polonaise in F minor 03:57

5 No. 5. Valse in E flat major 01:26

6 No. 6. Valse in A major 01:58

7 No. 7. Valse in B flat major 01:28

8 No. 8. Valse in F major 00:50

9 No. 9. Anglaise in E flat major 00:46

0 No. 10. Anglaise in B flat major 00:35

! No. 11. Anglaise in A flat major 00:44

@ No. 12. Anglaise in E flat major 00:46

# No. 13. Contredanse in B flat major 01:11$ No. 14. Contredanse in A flat major 00:48

% No. 15. Quadrille in E flat major 01:02

^ No. 16. Quadrille in F major 01:22

& No. 17. Mazurek in C major 01:14

* No. 18. Cotillon in A flat major 07:05


4/18

24 MAZURKAS 13:57

( Mazurka No. 1 00:38)

Mazurka No. 2 00:54 Mazurka No. 3 00:48 Mazurka No. 4 00:41 Mazurka No. 5 00:32 Mazurka No. 6 00:33 Mazurka No. 7 00:40

Mazurka No. 8 00:36 Mazurka No. 9 00:34 Mazurka No. 10 00:37 Mazurka No. 11 00:17 Mazurka No. 12 00:39

Mazurka No. 13 00:31 Mazurka No. 14 00:31 Mazurka No. 15 00:33 Mazurka No. 16 00:30fi Mazurka No. 17 00:53fl Mazurka No. 18 00:39

Mazurka No. 19 00:38 Mazurka No. 20 00:31 Mazurka No. 21 00:16


5/18

6 MINUETS 16:22

c No. 1 in A minor: Allegretto 02:36

d No. 2 in G minor: Quasi allegro 02:34e No. 3 in E flat major: Moderato 02:13

f No. 4 in G minor: Vivace agitato 02:28

g No. 5 in E major: Allegro 03:42

h No. 6 in D minor: Vivace 02:29

i POLONAISE SUR LAIR NATIONAL FAVORI DU FEU PRINCEJOSEPH PONIATOWSKY 02:33

j DANSE POLONAISE 03:39

k COTILLON OU VALSE FIGURE 04:09

TOTAL TIME: 74:00


6/18

MARIA SZYMANOWSKA (1789-1831)COMPLETE DANCES FOR SOLO PIANO

Passion brings pain! Who will soothe you, troubled heart that has lost so, lost completely?Where are the hours that all too swiftly flew? In vain were you granted a sight of Beauty! The spirit is clouded, purposes confused: how the worlds splendour fades from our view! Reconciliation (stanza 1),

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832)

In the summer of 1823 the elderly Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was taking thecure in the Bohemian spa town of Marienbad (Marinsk Lze) when he cameunder the spell of a beautiful pianist called Maria Szymanowska. After hearingher play, he was inspired to write a three-verse poem, Reconciliation, which he

dedicated to her. Its final line The double joy of love, and musics singing implies that Goethe was moved as much by Szymanowskas physical charms as byher extraordinarily affecting keyboard technique.

Maria Szymanowska, whom Goethe elsewhere described as the ravishing Almightyof the sound world, was born Marianna Agata Woowska in Warsaw in 1789. Her

inheritance was Jewish, but her family had converted to Catholicism. Mariasfather, who owned a successful brewery, was cultivated in his tastes and kept anopen house where patriotic Polish intellectuals were always welcome alongside

ti ti fi f th t f E A th i i t f t


7/18

At this time Warsaw was declining in importance, and by 1795, after the ThirdPartition of Poland, all the countrys former territory had been absorbed byRussia, Prussia and Austria. As a consequence many displaced poets, politicians,

writers, artists and musicians settled in foreign lands, especially France. In the earlynineteenth century these individuals would play a major part in establishing thenotion of Polish Romanticism, in which Chopin rose as the supreme musical giant.

The young Maria Woowska displayed extraordinary musical precocity and shequickly became a sensation in the Warsaw salons. To broaden her musical horizons,

it was decided to send her to Paris, where her fame spread. There she impressedsuch luminaries as the composers Gioachino Rossini and Luigi Cherubini (whodedicated a piano fantasia to her).

After her return to Poland in 1810 she married Jzef Szymanowski, a wealthylandowner, and before long there were three children (one of whom, Celina,later married Adam Mickiewicz, Polands national poet). The Szymanowskismarriage was not successful and it ended in divorce in 1820. Maria (who retainedher married name for professional purposes) resumed her international careerin 1815 and undertook some very long tours that included both private andpublic performances. It was during an arduous three-year tour of western Europebetween 1823 and 1826 that she first met Goethe. She also had an audience withthe British royal family, and in 1828 travelled to Russia, where she was employed by

the imperial court as First Pianist to the empress. During the summer of 1831 MariaSzymanowska succumbed to a cholera epidemic that swept St Petersburg, and shedied on 25th July, aged 41.


8/18

greatly admired by her contemporaries, and her recitals routinely included worksby living composers such as Hummel and Beethoven (whose Bagatelle in B flat,WoO 60, is dedicated to her). The influential Czech composer and teacher Vclav

Tomek, who counted Beethoven and Goethe among his acquaintances, praisedthe clarity and attack of Szymanowskas keyboard technique, and he also wroteenthusiastically of her inspirational performance style. Surviving documentationsuggests that her professional relationship with other pianist-composers was astrong one based on mutual trust and respect. John Field, for example, wrote tothe Leipzig publishers Breitkopf and Hrtel warmly recommending that they addSzymanowskas name to their roster of celebrated composers. The dedication ofher Caprice sur la romance de Joconde pour le Pianoforte(1819) to Monsieur JohnField, supports the assertion that Szymanowska considered him a close friend.

But not everyone appreciated her. There was the occasional lone voice ofopposition. The most important of these was surely the youthfully opinionated FelixMendelssohn, who cockily advised Szymanowskas admirers to think more of her

pretty face than of her not too pretty playing. Although Mendelssohns own sisterFanny was a highly accomplished composer in her own right, it remains possiblethat the emergence of other talented female pianist-composers from the salonsmade Felix uncomfortable, especially when they found conspicuous success withthe general public. Mendelssohns disregard for Szymanowska might well havestemmed from a dislike of her particular artistic circle. He had, after all, earlier

described Szymanowskas mentor, Luigi Cherubini, as an extinct volcano, stillthrowing out occasional sparks and flashes, but quite covered in ashes and stones.The immense quantity of Mendelssohns own Songs Without Words provides

l id th t h i d th bli i ti bl tit f d ti


9/18

By the end of the nineteenth century salon music had become strongly associatedwith dilettantism and mass consumerism, but in earlier decades its definingcharacteristics were elegance and refinement. These qualities are admirably

displayed in Szymanowskas attractive collections of dances, which includepolonaises, waltzes, mazurkas, quadrilles and contredanses (in addition to moreunusual types such as cotillions and anglaises). Taken collectively, these dancesare, for the most part, pleasing and light, with precisely the degree of imaginativeartistic inventiveness needed to appeal to the aristocratic salons of the day. Justoccasionally, as in the Polonaise No. 4 in F minor(an exercise in thirds and sixths),

the technical demands are rather more demanding, while in the Mazurka No. 17 inCSzymanowska hints at darker moments that are fleetingly redolent of the proto-Romantic Sturm und Drangmusic from the late 1760s the period of Goethesyouth.

Anthony Short


10/18

MARIA SZYMANOWSKASMTLICHE TNZE FR KLAVIER

Die Leidenschaft bringt Leiden! - Wer beschwichtigt Beklommnes Herz, das allzuviel verloren?Wo sind die Stunden, berschnell verflchtigt?

Vergebens war das Schnste dir erkoren! Trb ist der Geist, verworren das Beginnen; Die hehre Welt, wie schwindet sie den Sinnen!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832):Ausshnung, erste Strophe

Im Sommer 1823 begab sich der betagte Johann Wolfgang von Goethe zur Kurins bhmische Marienbad, wo er sich in eine wunderschne Pianistin namens

Maria Szymanowska verliebte. Ihr Klavierspiel inspirierte ihn zu dem dreistrophigenGedicht Ausshnung, das er ihr widmete. Die letzte Zeile Das Doppelglck derTne wie der Liebe lsst erkennen, dass Goethe von den krperlichen Reizen derSzymanowska ebenso berhrt war wie von ihrem uerst ergreifenden Musizieren.

Maria Szymanowska, die Goethe am 18. August 1823 in einem Brief an seine

Tochter Ottilie als die zierliche Tonallmchtige apostrophierte, kam 1789 inWarschau als Marianna Agata Woowska zur Welt. Die ursprnglich jdischeFamilie war zum Katholizismus bergetreten, und der Vater, ein erfolgreicherB ib it i M k lti i t G h k S i H t d d


11/18

Warschau verlor damals mehr und mehr an Bedeutung, und 1795 wurde bei derdritten polnischen Teilung das gesamte Territorium des Landes von Russland,Preuen und sterreich absorbiert. Infolgedessen lieen sich viele vertriebene

Dichter, Politiker, Autoren, bildende Knstler und Musiker im Ausland, namentlichin Frankreich nieder. Eine groe Rolle spielten diese Gestalten dann zu Beginndes 19. Jahrhunderts bei der Entstehung der polnischen Romantik, als derenmusikalischer Gigant sich dann Chopin erhob.

Die junge Maria Woowska erwies sich in musikalischer Hinsicht als uerst frhreif

und war schon bald die Sensation der Warschauer Salons. Man beschloss, sie nachParis zu schicken, auf dass sie ihren musikalischen Horizont erweitere, und sie wurdenoch berhmter: In der franzsischen Hauptstadt beeindruckte sie solche Grenwie Gioachino Rossini und Luigi Cherubini (der ihr eine Klavierfantasie widmete).

Wieder in Polen, heiratete sie 1810 den reichen Gutsbesitzer Jzef Szymanowski,und bald gab es drei Kinder (die Tochter Celina wurde die Frau des polnischenNationaldichters Adam Mickiewicz). Doch den Szymanowskis war kein Glckbeschieden. 1820 kam es zur Scheidung. Maria, die bereits 1815 ihre internationaleKarriere wieder aufgenommen hatte, behielt aus beruflichen Grnden denEhenamen bei und unternahm eine Reihe sehr ausgedehnter Reisen, in derenVerlauf sie sowohl in privaten Kreisen als auch ffentlich auftrat. Als sie Goethe1823 kennenlernte, hatte sie soeben eine dreijhrige Tournee angetreten. Unter

anderem gewhrte ihr die britische Knigsfamilie eine Audienz. 1828 kam sie nachRussland, wo sie zur Ersten Pianistin des Zarenhofes befrdert wurde. Im Sommer1831 fiel sie einer Cholera-Epidemie zum Opfer, die in St. Petersburg wtete. Maria


12/18

Frhgeschichte eines zutiefst romantischen Phnomens: des Klavierkomponistenoder komponierenden Pianisten. Die Zeitgenossen bewunderten sie sehr, und beiihren Solokonzerten bercksichtigte sie blicherweise auch lebende Komponisten

wie Hummel und Beethoven (der ihr seine Bagatelle B-dur WoO 60 widmete). Dereinflussreiche tschechische Komponist und Lehrer Vclav Tomek, der Beethovenund Goethe zu seinen Bekannten zhlte, lobte die Klarheit und den Anschlag ihresSpiels und schrieb begeistert von ihrer Art des Vortrags. Die erhaltenen Dokumentelassen vermuten, dass sie enge berufliche Kontakte zu ihren Kollegen unterhielt,die von wechselseitigem Vertrauen und Respekt bestimmt waren. John Fieldbedeutete dem Leipziger Verlag Breitkopf & Hrtel in einer warmen Empfehlung,

man mge doch den Namen der Szymanowska auf die Liste der berhmtenKomponisten setzen. Die Widmung ihrer Caprice sur la romance de Joconde pourle Pianoforte (1819) an Monsieur John Field sttzt die Vermutung, dass MariaSzymanowska in ihm einen engen Freund sah.

Doch die Wertschtzung war keine ganz allgemeine. Immer wieder einmal erhob sich

eine einsame Stimme der Opposition, von denen die des jungen, selbstgeflligenFelix Mendelssohn wohl die bekannteste war. Er hielt den Bewunderern derSzymanowska entgegen, sie htten wohl ihr hbsches Gesicht mit ihrem nichthbschen Spiel verwechselt. Zwar war auch Mendelssohns Schwester Fannyeine ausnehmend tchtige Komponistin; es ist aber durchaus mglich, dasssich ihr Bruder unbehaglich bei dem Gedanken fhlte, es knne aus den Salons

noch eine weitere talentierte Pianistin und Komponistin hervorgehen zumaldiese beim groen Publikum einen derart auffallenden Erfolg hatte. Es ist auchdenkbar, dass die Geringschtzung, die der halbwchsige Mendelssohn fr MariaS k f d d A ti thi d K tl k i lti t


13/18

Die enorme Menge an Liedern ohne Worte, die Mendelssohn selbst geschriebenhat, ist ein deutlicher Hinweis darauf, dass er um den unstillbaren Hunger nachpianistischer Hausmusik wusste; doch die bloe Weite und das Spektrum seines

schpferischen Genies zeigt, dass er sich nie als reiner Salonkomponist htteeinordnen lassen. Demgegenber produzierte Maria Szymanowska bedenkenlosfast all ihre Musik fr den Salon.

Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts war der Begriff der Salonmusik zum unmissverstndlichenSynonym fr Dilettantismus und Massenkonsum geworden. In den frheren

Jahrzehnten jedoch waren ihre entscheidenden Merkmale Eleganz und Raffinement,und diese Qualitten zeigen sich auf bewundernswerte Weise in den attraktivenTanzkollektionen, worin Maria Szymanowska Polonaisen, Walzer, Mazurkas,Quadrillen und Kontretnze sowie ungewhnlichere Typen (Cotillons, Anglaisesu.a.) verffentlichte. Insgesamt handelt es sich bei diesen Tnzen vorwiegend umvergngliche, leichtgewichtige Stcke von genau jenem Grad an knstlerischemEinfallsreichtum, der ntig war, um in den damaligen Salons der Aristokratie zugefallen. Nur gelegentlich sind die technischen Anforderungen um einiges hherwie etwa in der Polonaise Nr. 4 f-moll (einer bung in Terzen und Sexten), whrendMaria Szymanowska in der Mazurka Nr. 17 C-dur dunklere Momente andeutet, dievorbergehend nach dem proto-romantischen Sturm und Drangder 1760-er Jahreduften mithin aus der Zeit des jungen Goethe.

Anthony ShortDeutsche Fassung: Cris Posslac


14/18

ALEXANDER KOSTRITSA

Alexander Kostritsa was born into a musical family in Moscow and started his piano

lessons at the age of six. He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees fromthe Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree fromthe Cleveland Institute of Music. Alexander Kostritsa is a prizewinner of internationalpiano competitions, including the Premio Rovere dOro (Italy, 2007, 1st prize), theSlavic Music Festival (Ukraine, 2007, laureate), and the Paul Badura-Skoda (Spain,2010, finalist). He made his international dbut when he was eight years old with

a concert tour to Japan. Since then he has been performing as a soloist in Italy,France, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and the United States. He has appeared withthe Moscow Chamber Orchestra The Seasons, the Kursk University Orchestra,the Vidin Philharmonic and other orchestras. He studied with Mikhail Petukhov inMoscow and with Antonio Pompa-Baldi in Cleveland.

NATSUMI SHIBAGAKI

The Japanese pianist Natsumi Shibagaki currently makes her home in Cleveland,Ohio. She moved to the United States when she was eighteen to attend theInterlochen Arts Academy in Traverse City, Michigan. She received both Bachelorand Master of Music degrees in solo piano performance from the San FranciscoConservatory of Music, as a student of Mack McCray, and has participated innumerous competitions and international music festivals since arriving in America.


15/18


16/18


17/18

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM

GP660 GP671

GP636 GP661


18/18

GP685

7

4731

3

96852

7

MARIA SZYMANOWSKACOMPLETE DANCES FOR SOLO PIANO

Displaying exceptional musical precocity, the young pianist Maria

Szymanowska proved a sensation in Warsaws salons, beforemoving to Paris where her fame spread. Greatly admired by hercontemporaries, who included Beethoven, Cherubini, Field andTomek, she later also cast a spell over the elderly Goethe duringone of her many long European tours. Before her early death, fromcholera, she was employed by the Russian imperial court as FirstPianist to the empress. Written for the aristocratic salons of the day,Szymanowskas collections of dances are, for the most part, pleasingand light, yet always inventive. These beautifully written miniatures

also include more challenging pieces such as the Polonaise No. 4and the Mazurka No.17 whose darker moments foreshadow theearly German Romantics.

SZYMANOWSKA:COM

PLETEDANCESFORSOLOPIANO

SZYMANOWSKA:COM

PLETEDANCESFORSOLOPIANO

1-* 18 DANSES 33:40

(-b 24 MAZURKAS 13:57

c-h 6 MINUETS 16:22

i POLONAISE SUR LAIR NATIONAL FAVORIDU FEU PRINCE JOSEPH PONIATOWSKY 02:33

j DANSE POLONAISE 03:39

k COTILLON OU VALSE FIGURE 04:09

TOTAL TIME: 74:00

GP685

GP685

& 2015 HNH International Ltd. Manufactured in Germany. Unauthorised copying,hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording is prohibited.Booklet notes in English and German. Distributed by Naxos.

ALEXANDER KOSTRITSA

SZYMANOWSKA, M.- Dances for Solo Piano (Complete) (Kostritsa)

Documents

Transcript of SZYMANOWSKA, M.- Dances for Solo Piano (Complete) (Kostritsa)